4 The newest version of this document is available at
5 http://www.gnome.org/mc/answers.html
7 The [NEW] tag marks the sections which have been added recently.
9 The [UPDATED] tag marks the sections which have been updated recently.
12 + 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
13 + 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
14 + 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
15 + 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
16 + 1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?
17 + 1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?
18 + 1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?
20 + 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F?
22 + 2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key)
24 + 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
25 + 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
26 + 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
27 + 2.6 [NEW] C-o doesn't work!
28 + 2.7 [NEW] What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in
31 + 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
32 + 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
33 + 3.3 [NEW] How do I get the extension dependant pop-up menu to
36 + 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for
38 + 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
39 + 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
40 + 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national
42 + 4.5 How can I get colors?
43 + 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
44 + 4.7 Where can I get color_xterm?
45 + 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't
47 + 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one
49 * 5 Graphical user interface
50 + 5.1 [UPDATED] Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
51 * 6 Command line problems
52 + 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight
54 + 6.2 [UPDATED] How can I access command line history?
55 + 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names
57 + 6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc
59 + 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot
61 * 7 Virtual file systems
62 + 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
63 + 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
64 + 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
65 + 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
66 + 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
67 + 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
68 + 7.7 [UPDATED] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight
70 * 8 Other common problems
71 + 8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?
72 + 8.2 [UPDATED] Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?
73 + 8.3 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite ftp-fs links?
74 + 8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date,
76 + 8.5 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive.
77 Please insert a disk into drive D:"?
78 + 8.6 [UPDATED] When I start Midnight Commander, nothing
80 + 8.7 When I try to view a file MC hangs!
82 + 9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
83 + 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
84 + 9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
85 + 9.4 How can I join the development?
87 + 10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can
89 + 10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
90 + 10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
91 + 10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
94 + 11.2 [UPDATED] File formats
95 + 11.3 Feedback is invited
96 + 11.4 Disclaimer and copyright
100 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
102 The Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager
103 and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a
104 clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix
105 system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and
106 preserving the full power of the command prompt. You will wonder how
107 you could ever live without it.
109 For more thorough description take a look at the announcement of
110 Midnight Commander 4.0.
112 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
114 Yes, Midnight Commander can run on almost any machine, including Unix
115 clones, Windows 95/NT and OS/2. Midnight Commander does not run on
118 Midnight Commander uses GNU autoconfigure which can automatically
119 configure Midnight Commander for use on almost any (if not every) Unix
120 clone. Following configurations have been tested:
121 * i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
123 * sparc-linux-linux2.x
124 * sparc64-linux-linux2.1
125 * mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
127 * rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5
129 * sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
130 * sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
135 * mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
138 * i386-*-windows-nt-3.51, 4.0
142 See http://www.gnome.org/mc/download.html.
144 There is also a preliminary Ms-Dos port at
145 http://www.gnome.org/cgi-bin/mc/download/DOS/.html (but no Ms-Dos
148 Windows 95/NT port can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++, Borland
149 C++, Cygwin32 and Mingw32.
151 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
155 Because Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesn't run on
156 dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like vt100). If
157 your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will work with
160 The XView and Tk editions currently under development will require an
163 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
165 You need an Unix compatible operating system or Windows 95/NT or OS/2.
167 If you want to use mouse on the Linux console you need General Purpose
168 Mouse server from iride.unipv.it: /pub/gpm/. You need nothing extra to
171 To compile the XView edition (currently under development) you need
172 XView library. Xpm library and X11 non-rectangular shape extensions
175 To compile the Tk edition (currently under development) you need
176 Tk-4.0 libraries. Compilation of the Tk version won't be easy. Contact
179 If you do not want to use the slang library you could try using
180 ncurses (we recommend only version 4.1 and above).
182 You can get it along with other curses libraries, too, but results may
183 not be pretty or even usable.
185 1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?
187 Midnight Commander is under GNU Public License which basically means
188 that you may freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may
189 not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and that you must
190 make the source code available. This is not the same as Public Domain.
191 For details, the GNU license is included in the Midnight Commander
192 source distribution (the COPYING file).
194 Midnight Commander is nowadays officially a part of GNU project. All
195 the authors of the Midnight Commander have given all their rights on
196 the program to the Free Software Foundation.
198 1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?
200 See http://www.gnome.org/mc/download.html. There are about seventy
201 download sites. Note that the newest files might not be present on all
202 the download sites yet.
204 In short: the main site is ftp://ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx/linux/local/ and
205 the sunsite.unc.edu mirrors have MC in the
206 /pub/Linux/utils/file/managers/mc directory.
208 1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?
210 Most Linux CD-ROMs include Midnight Commander. For example, Slackware,
211 Yggdrasil, S.U.S.E., Jurix, RedHat, Caldera and Debian.
215 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F? keys?
217 Midnight Commander documentation uses emacs style names for keyboard
220 C stands for the Ctrl key. For example, C-f means that you should hold
221 down the Ctrl key and press the f key.
223 M stands for the Meta key. Your terminal might call it Alt or Compose
224 instead of Meta. For example, M-f means that you should hold down the
225 Meta/Alt/Compose key and press the f key. If your terminal doesn't
226 have Meta, Alt or Compose or they don't work you can use Esc. For M-f
227 press the Esc key and then press the f key.
229 F? stands for a function key. If your terminal doesn't have function
230 keys or they don't work you can use Esc. For example, for F3 press the
231 Esc key and then press the 3 key.
233 2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?
235 Your terminfo or termcap database has missing or incorrect definations
236 for function keys. Type "mc -V" to see what terminal database is being
237 used. If the result is "using the S-Lang library with terminfo
238 database" you should install one of the enhanced terminfo databases
239 included in the Midnight Commander source distribution. For example,
240 if you are using xterm type "tic xterm.ti".
242 If the result is "using the S-Lang library with termcap database" you
243 should fix your /etc/termcap database.
245 Better termcap and terminfo databases are available here:
247 http://sagan.earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo/
249 Best terminfo database is bundled with ncurses 4.2.
251 You can select whether Midnight Commander will use terminfo or termcap
252 database by giving --with-terminfo or --with-termcap option to the
253 configure. Default is terminfo if found, otherwise termcap.
255 If you don't have permissions to edit terminal databases you can use
256 Learn keys feature of Midnight Commander instead. Press Esc 9 o k and
259 If all else fails you can emulate function keys by first pressing the
260 ESC key and then one of the number keys. For example, if you want to
261 produce F9, press ESC, then 9. If you don't have a ESC key on your
262 keyboard you can try alt-9 or meta-9.
264 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
266 These can mapped to function keys F1 to F10 with Shift held. eg.
267 function key F13 can be activated by pressing Shift-F3. You can define
268 the keys this way in the Options menu. The convention for PC keyboards
269 is that F11-20 always means Shift with F1-10
271 Note! Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports use F11 and F12 keys to change the
272 current disk drive. In this case F11 and F12 mean the real F11 and F12
273 keys, not shift-F1 and shift-F2.
275 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
277 Midnight Commander uses the ESC key as a prefix for simulating the
278 Meta and Alt keys (for terminals which don't have Meta or Alt, see the
279 three previous questions). For example, pressing ESC-a is the same as
280 pressing Meta-a. In addition most terminals use ESC for internal
281 representation of arrow keys, function keys and other enhanced keys.
282 If you want to use ESC to cancel things you have to press it twice i.
283 e. ESC-ESC. If you find this cumbersome you can generally use F10 to
284 cancel. Alternatively turn on the old_esc_mode setting in the
285 ~/.mc.ini file. The old_esc_mode setting makes ESC work as a prefix
286 only if another key is pressed within 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds
287 the ESC key cancels. There is no way to make ESC cancel immediately
288 (if we want to be able to use arrows keys and function keys).
290 X terminals allow more control over keyboard, so these ESC limitations
291 might not concern the forthcoming XView and Tk editions of the
294 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
296 Press C-q first, then press the + sign.
298 The plus key is the hotkey for the select files command. If you want
299 to add a literal plus on to the command line you must quote it by
302 Another common key which needs the C-q prefix is backslash "\".
304 2.6 [NEW] C-o doesn't work!
306 Maybe C-o is a stty control character on your terminal. See man stty
307 for details on how to list and change stty control characters.
309 2.7 [NEW] What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the manual?
311 The "a1" key is the key which has the "a1" caption on it.
313 The "c1" key is the key which has the "c1" caption on it.
315 If you have to ask what these two keys are your keyboard hasn't
316 probably got them. Actually, I have never seen a keyboard which has
321 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
323 Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -x". If this doesn't work
324 upgrade to a terminal which compatible with the Xterm mouse sequences.
326 Alternatively, on Linux console you can use GPM.
328 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
330 Hold down shift key while using mouse to cut'n'paste.
332 3.3 [NEW] How do I get the extension dependant pop-up menu to pop up?
334 You need a tk or xview edition (use the --with-tk or --with-xview
335 configure option when compiling). Normal MC (text-mode edition)
336 doesn't support this feature yet.
338 In the tk and xview editions you can access the extension dependent
339 pop-up menu by pressing the right mouse button.
343 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for SLang"?
345 This means that your terminfo databases do not contain the correct
346 definitions for your terminal.
348 You could try using a different terminal setting. If you use csh or
353 or if you use sh, bash, ksh or zsh:
357 If this doesn't help you can recompile MC to use termcap instead of
360 ./configure --with-termcap
363 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
365 Since version 4.0.13 there's the commandline option -a to force use of
366 +, |, - for line drawing (only available when compiled with SLang).
367 Use this -a option if any of the suggestions below doesn't help.
369 In general, there are three subcases:
370 * Lines are shown as ASCII characters like this
376 This also happens when you use the -a option. Other than that
377 possible reason is 1, 2 or 3 (see below).
378 * Lines are shown as lower case characters like this
384 Possible reason is 2 or 3 (see below).
385 * Lines are shown as blanks or missing characters. Possible reason
386 is 3 or 4 (see below).
388 The reason for the problem is one of following:
389 1. Your curses library might not support line drawing characters.
390 Slang, Ncurses and System V curses do support them, BSD curses
391 doesn't. MC uses Slang by default so this is not usually a
393 2. Your terminal might not support line drawing characters. Vt100
394 compatible terminals, rxvt, xterm and color_xterm do support them.
395 3. Your terminfo or termcap database might have missing or incorrect
396 definations for line drawing characters. Set the acsc variable in
397 the terminfo database like this:
398 acsc=a\376k\277l\332m\300j\331n\305w\302v\301u\264t\303q\304x\263h
400 Don't forget issue 'tic' command. This supposes you are using pc
401 character set. The octal values might be different for other
402 character sets. If you are using termcap instead of terminfo, you
403 should modify above solution appropriately.
404 4. Your terminal font might not support line drawing characters. Try
407 Here is Miguel's answer to Torben on this subject.
411 When I load consolefonts/iso01.f16, I get perfectly right national
412 characters, but the line drawing characters in mc get wrong. Is it
413 a mc problem, or is it a problem with the font? (I guess it is).
419 First of all, we should determine whether the font has line drawing
422 If it has line drawing characters, then a new terminfo entry should
423 be written for this specific case. Let's call this linux-iso01. The
424 acsc variable should be modified to reflect which characters are
425 used to do the line drawing.
427 If it does not have line drawing characters, then we should get rid
428 of the switch to acsc sequences and make the acsc sequence be just
429 a mapping to the ugly +, -, |, - characters.
431 You can get your terminfo definition by running the infocmp
432 program, making the proper changes and running the tic program to
433 compile your new terminfo database.
435 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
437 Yes, you need a correct font and a correct termcap/terminfo database.
439 For font, if you use xterm try "xterm -fn fixed".
441 For termcap/terminfo database, change the acsc capability in the
444 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national characters!
446 Upgrade to version 4.0.12 or newer.
448 From the Options - Display Bits dialog select Full 8 bits or ISO
449 8859-1. In addition, select 8 bit input from the same dialog.
451 4.5 How can I get colors?
453 Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -c".
455 If you get colors, be happy.
457 If your terminal stays black and white, your terminal doesn't support
458 color. You might want to upgrade to a terminal which compatible with
459 the ANSI color sequences.
461 If your terminal goes compelety black, see the next question.
463 More detailed answer:
465 First, check that your terminal supports color. Color_xterm, rxvt and
466 Linux console do support, most other terminals don't. You can test
467 color support with following simple C program:
472 printf ("\033[32m Hello world! \033[m\n");
476 Compile and run it. If you see "Hello world!" text in green your
477 terminal supports color, otherwise not (however, for color_xterm see
478 also the next question).
480 Second, check that you are using Ncurses or the Slang library (type
481 "mc -V" to find out), in addition some System V curses implementations
482 do support color, most don't.
484 With Slang library you can force color support by setting the
485 environment variable COLORTERM to any value.
487 Third, if you use ncurses library, check that your terminfo database
488 supports color. If not you should install one of the enhanced terminfo
489 databases included in the Midnight Commander source distribution.
491 Fourth, you might want to set the TERM environment variable so that
492 you use the correct terminfo database or termcap entry.
494 If you use color_xterm (or rxvt) the correct value might be
495 xterm-color, xtermc or simply xterm.
497 If you use Linux console the correct value for TERM is linux or
500 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
502 Some color_xterm terminals define all colors as black instead of the
503 standard ANSI colors. This makes them go completely black when you try
504 to use Midnight Commander with colors.
506 You will have to override the defaults. Create a file "color.defaults"
507 which has the following contents:
509 color_xterm*color0: Black
510 color_xterm*color1: Red
511 color_xterm*color2: Green
512 color_xterm*color3: Yellow
513 color_xterm*color4: Blue
514 color_xterm*color5: Magenta
515 color_xterm*color6: Cyan
516 color_xterm*color7: White
517 color_xterm*background: White
518 color_xterm*foreground: Black
520 (replace color_xterm with the name of your color_xterm, color_xterm
521 mentions its name in its title bar)
525 xrdb -merge color.defaults
527 Alternatively you can add the suggested contents of the color.defaults
528 file to your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file (or what ever the name of
529 your X configuration file is). Or you can replace your non-ANSI
530 color_xterm with an ANSI color_xterm.
532 4.7 Where can I get color_xterm?
534 Try ftp.x.org: /contrib/utilities/colour_xterm.tar.gz.
536 Alternatively, rxvt is a better choice, see
537 http://www.gnome.org/cgi-bin/mc/download/rxvt/.html
539 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't work at all
542 Midnight Commander uses terminfo database (if available) but many
543 other programs use termcap database. If you set the TERM environment
544 variable to a value which has no corresponding entry in termcap
545 database those programs stop working. You should add the new value of
546 TERM to the termcap database.
548 Example: If you have set TERM to xterm-color locate from /etc/termcap
549 the line which starts:
551 xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator
555 xterm|xterm-color|vs100|xterm terminal emulator
557 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one database be
560 You might want to read the Unix-haters handbook at
561 http://www.digital.de/people/jmh/Unix_Haters/unix-haters.html. It
562 lists many more reasons why Unix sucks.
564 You can configure which terminal database you want to use with the
565 "--with-termcap" and "--with-terminfo" flags of configure. If you
566 don't specify them, the configure script will try to use terminfo if
567 available otherwise it will use termcap.
569 5 Graphical user interface
571 5.1 [UPDATED] Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
573 Get the newest development version, give the "--with-xview" or
574 "--with-tk" or "--with-gnome" option to the configure and otherwise
575 compile as usual. See Download.
577 Xview, Tk and Gnome editions are work in progress, they are not as
578 robust as the text mode edition.
580 6 Command line problems
582 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight Commander?
584 See the description of the -P option in the Options section of the
587 6.2 [UPDATED] How can I access command line history?
589 You can browse previous commands with M-p and M-n. Alternatively, you
590 can summon the command history listbox by pressing F9 c h.
592 Since version 4.1.15 all the input widgets have permanent history. You
593 can summon the history listbox by pressing M-h.
595 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names and so on?
597 Just press M-Tab. Press M-Tab again to get a listbox if there are
598 multiple possible completions.
600 6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc within MC?
602 Sorry, MC only supports bash, tcsh and zsh functions. Ksh functions
603 are not supported because ksh lacks the necessary hooks needed for
604 subshell integration.
606 Switch to bash or zsh. They are both quite compatible with ksh. Your
607 ksh functions should work as such or after minimal changes.
609 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot keys to MC?
611 Yes, F2 invokes an user menu which fully configurable. You can add any
612 shell commands to the user menu. See
613 http://www.gnome.org/mc/manual-d.html#8 for more info.
615 Another way to add functionality is the external panelize feature. See
616 http://www.gnome.org/mc/manual-d.html#4 for more info.
618 And finally, you can code any feature you want yourself. MC source
619 code is free which means you can change it anyway you want. There are
620 some limitations to make sure MC stays free. See GNU General Public
623 7 Virtual file systems
625 Note! Virtual file systems are supported by Unix ports only. The
626 Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports do NOT support virtual file systems. This
627 means you haven't got ftp, zip or tar support on Windows 95/NT and
630 This chapter describes the behaviour of the 4.1.x versions of the
631 Midnight Commander. The behaviour of the 4.5.x versions is somewhat
632 different. More on that when the 4.5.x versions get more stable.
634 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
636 If you use keyboard just move the selection bar on the tar file and
639 If you use mouse just doubleclick on the tar file.
641 If these procedures don't work, your .mc.ext file is faulty. Replace
642 it with one from the MC source distribution.
644 You can also enter a tar archive by typing "cd tar:filename.tar.gz"
645 where filename.tar.gz is the name of the archive.
647 The recognized suffixes for tar archives are .tar, .tar.gz and .tgz.
648 If your tar archive uses different suffix you have to rename it.
650 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
652 Just press enter on the toplevel ".." file or chdir to a non-tar
653 directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters is enough (it will take
654 you to your home directory).
656 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
658 Just type "cd ftp://hostname" where hostname is the name of the host
659 you want to connect. Alternatively, select FTP link from the Left or
660 Right menu and type the name of the host you want to connect.
662 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
664 Non-anonymous ftp works just like the anonymous ftp but you give the
665 login name with the host name. For example, type "cd
666 ftp://username@hostname".
668 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
670 Just chdir to a non-ftp directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters
671 is enough (it will take you to your home directory).
673 Internally Midnight Commander closes ftp connection only after a
674 timeout. This isn't visible to the end user.
676 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
678 Update is skipped because there would be a serious performance
679 penalty. Constantly updating directory panels through a ftp connection
680 would take too much time.
682 You can use C-r to force an update.
684 7.7 [UPDATED] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?
686 There are two kinds of ftp proxies: proxies for ftp clients and
687 proxies for web browsers.
689 Midnight Commander only supports ftp proxies which are meant for ftp
690 clients. Common WWW proxies (like Squid) are not supported. A rule of
691 thumb is that if a ftp proxy works with a web browser, it won't work
692 with Midnight Commander.
694 8 Other common problems
696 8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?
698 The F4 key used to default to an external editor because that was what
699 most people were used to. The newer versions use internal editor by
702 To use the internal editor with an old version, select Configuration
703 from the Options menu and check the 'use internal edit' option.
705 Alternatively add the line
708 under the [Midnight-Commander] section in your .mc.ini file (which is
709 in your home directory).
711 To make the editor work all the time, go to the default/* section in
712 the file lib/mc/mc.ext file and remove the line
714 Edit=%var{EDITOR:vi} %f
716 The internal editor will now be invoked for anything not specified
717 elsewhere in the mc.ext file.
719 Make sure that you edit the correct mc.ext file. The Midnight
720 Commander first checks the existance of $HOME/.mc.ext. If this file is
721 missing MC will use $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext instead ($prefix can be
722 changed with configure before compilation and it defaults to
725 When you run `F9/Command/Extension file edit' for the very first time
726 Midnight Commander copies the system-wide mc.ext from $prefix/lib/mc
727 into your home directory because you need write access in order to
730 And please don't forget that "make install" overwrites
731 $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext.
733 8.2 [UPDATED] Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?
737 If the newfile doesn't exist, mcedit fails.
739 Start mcedit with no parameters, this will create a blank file. Then
740 save the file with whatever name you like.
742 This bug has been fixed since 4.1.17.
744 8.3 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite ftp-fs links?
746 Use the directory hotlist. Just press control-backslash. If your
747 national keyboard layout doesn't have backslash key, just press the
748 control key with the key which is the backslash key in the English
751 8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date, uid and gid!
753 This is a known bug. At moment only files preserve their original
754 settings when copying, not directories.
756 Uid and gid is fixed since 4.0.1. "Preserve UIDs/GIDs" in the copy
757 dialog needs to be checked and you must be root.
759 Date problem is fixed since 4.0.13.
761 8.5 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk
764 This is a known bug of the Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports. MC looks its
765 configuration files from the D:\MC directory and if the D: drive is a
766 removable drive (like a CD ROM drive) and there is no disk in drive
767 you get this message everytime you try to do anything.
769 Since version 4.0.6 you can specify the actual location of the
770 Midnight Commander configuration files with the MCHOME environment
773 8.6 [UPDATED] When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!
775 First, invoke MC without subshell support: "mc -u". If this helps
776 check the shell you are using. Subshell support works best with bash
777 although tcsh and zsh are also supported. You might want to upgrade
778 your shell to a newer version. If you use something else than bash,
779 tcsh or zsh, subshell support is disabled automatically.
781 If disabling subshell doesn't help, try to reconfigure MC with
782 "--with-included-slang" and "--with-termcap" options and recompile. If
783 this helps, there is something wrong with your terminfo database or
784 shared slang library. For better terminfo databases see chapter 4. For
785 a better slang library, upgrade to a newer version or keep using the
786 "--with-included-slang" option.
788 This problem can also be caused by gpm as noted by Luis Espinoza:
790 In regards to why midnight commander does nothing when invoked. I
791 recently had the same problem. At the same time gpm was not loading
792 properly with my patched kernel (now 2.0.33 from 2.0.30).
793 Downloading version 1.13 of gpm, and got it working :-) MC still
794 appeared locked.... However moving the mouse, brought MC to life.
795 The mouse I am using is a Kensington Expert Mouse (Trackball).
797 8.7 When I try to view a file MC hangs!
799 This is known bug. A quick fix is "chmod 666 /dev/tty". For a more
800 complete fix, see http://www.gnome.org/mc/maillist/97-10/98.html.
802 This bug is fixed since 4.1.6.
806 9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
808 Midnight Commander was started by Miguel de Icaza and he is the
809 maintainer of the package. Other authors have joined the project
811 * Mauricio Plaza (early releases)
812 * Janne Kukonlehto (joined Sep 27 1994)
813 * Radek Doulik (joined Oct 30 1994)
814 * Fred Leeflang (joined Nov 2 1994)
815 * Dugan Porter (joined Dec 1 1994)
816 * Jakub Jelinek (joined Feb 8 1995)
817 * Ching Hui (joined Jun 27 1995)
818 * Andrej Borsenkow (joined Jul 1996)
819 * Paul Sheer (joined Nov 1 1996)
823 Alessandro Rubini has been specially helpful with debugging and
824 enhancing of the mouse support. John Davis has made his S-Lang library
825 available to us and answered many questions about it.
827 The photographs of the authors are available as:
829 http://www.gnome.org/mc/authstat.html
831 Many people have contributed bug reports, feature suggestions and
832 small code bits (alphabetical order):
834 * Juan Jose Ciarlante
835 * Alexander Dong (OS/2 port, NT port updates)
837 * Torben Fjerdingstad
839 * Juan Grigera (NT port)
841 * Sergey Ya. Korshunoff
844 * Antonio Palama (old DOS port)
852 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
854 I am afraid you have to answer to this question yourself. Development
855 versions seldom cause data loss but they have usually got many bugs.
856 It's up to you to judge whether new features outweight the bugs.
858 9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
860 You might first want to get the newest development version to see if
861 the bug is fixed or the feature is added already.
863 Send your report/request to mc-devel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx or
864 mc@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx. These mailing lists are the most certain
865 way to contact the developers. Remember to mention if you are not on
866 the mailing list to make sure that you will receive a copy of replies.
868 Give as much details as possible. A too long message is a lot better
869 than a too short message.
871 For segmentation faults a stack backtrace is appreciated. You can
872 produce stack backtrace as follows:
873 * If segmentation fault produced a core file:
874 1. Load the core file by typing "gdb mc core" or "dbx mc core".
876 3. Cut and paste the results to your message.
877 * If segmentation fault didn't produce a core file:
878 1. Load mc by typing "gdb mc" or "dbx mc".
879 2. Start mc by typing "run".
880 3. Try to reproduce the segmentation fault by doing whatever you
881 did last time when the segmentation fault occurred.
883 5. Cut and paste the results to your message.
884 6. For the future you might want to check out what is the
885 command in your shell to allow producing of the core files.
886 Usually it is "limit coredumpsize unlimited" or "ulimit
887 coredumpsize" or "ulimit -c unlimited".
889 9.4 How can I join the development?
891 To join the development just code the feature you want to add and send
892 your patch for inclusion. Email address is mc-devel@nuclecu.unam.mx.
893 Before you start coding check the latest development version. It might
894 be that your feature has already been implemented.
896 Note that the authors of the Midnight Commander have given all their
897 rights on the program to the Free Software Foundation. You will have
898 to do the same if you contribute non-trivial patches. Otherwise we
899 have to reject your patches in order to avoid copyright problems.
903 10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can I look for an
906 Read messages from the Discussion (mailing list archive) or read the
909 Upgrade to a newer version of Midnight Commander. Many problems are
910 fixed in the new versions.
912 If you still can't find an answer, post your question to the Midnight
913 Commander mailing list. Its address is mc@nuclecu.unam.mx.
915 10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
917 Following mailing lists discuss about Midnight Commander:
920 General discussion of the Midnight Commander
923 The mc list, in digest format
926 Major announcements about the Commander
929 The latest Commander patches
932 Technical development discussion
935 Non-MC related chatting by the developers (contact Miguel to
938 To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx with
939 the following line in the body of the message:
941 subscribe <list-name> [optional-address]
943 Replace <list-name> with the name of the list you want to subscribe
944 and [optional-address] with your email address.
946 10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
948 There is a WWW page for Midnight Commander. The URL is:
950 http://www.gnome.org/mc/
952 The WWW page features MC screen shots, photographs of the authors,
953 mailing list archive and a few other things.
955 10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
957 The mc and mc-devel lists are archived on the World Wide Web page (see
958 the previous question). Other lists are not currently archived though
959 Miguel keeps a private archive. Contact him if you want copies of past
966 Questions and Answers is written by Janne Kukonlehto. Parts of it
967 originate from Ian Jackson, Miguel de Icaza, Dugan Porter, Norbert
968 Warmuth and Paul Sheer.
970 11.2 [UPDATED] File formats
972 This document is available in HTML, postscript and PDF formats at
973 http://www.gnome.org/mc/answers.html.
975 This document is available in ASCII format in the Midnight Commander
978 11.3 Feedback is invited
980 Send your comments about this document to janne@gnome.org
982 Send your comments about the Midnight Commander to mc@nuclecu.unam.mx
984 11.4 Disclaimer and copyright
986 Note that this document is provided as is. The information in it is
987 not warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.
989 You can use Questions and Answers according to GNU Public License (see
990 the COPYING file in the Midnight Commander source distribution).
991 Questions and Answers is not public domain.
992 __________________________________________________________________
994 This document is maintained by Janne Kukonlehto <janne@gnome.org>.